Code disk assembly and ball bearing therefor



April 17 1951 F. REINHOLD CODE DISK ASSEMBLY AND BALL BEARING THEREFORFiled Aug. 13, 1946 I INVENTOR RNEY Patented Apr. 17, 1951 CODE DISK-ASSEMBLY A-ND BALL BEARING THEREFOR Lemma-re i lier psi ieinhola, GreatN; ii

erpoi'atiii cf Delaware as'signor tb Radid'corporation of America; a

Application August 13, 1946 gerial N6. 690,5 4 dialins (o1. apes)invention relates: to mountings for code discs, 'S'ii'c'h as used inprinting telegraph atr a" rates and the like. The princi al abject orthe invention is to pr vide a practical former as s'efhhly' of the eoa'ediscs with ball bearings s6 arranged as to facilitate independentrotation of individual disc. H y

In' carryin out m invention, it is essential that the discs be mountedin lanes parallel to one another, and that the ball bearings be held inplace with a minimum amount of end play and with a minimum degree offriction. I, there: fore, provide resilient means for applying asuitable amount of compression for taking up the end play in the discassembly.

My invention is somewhat closely related to that which was set forth inmy Patent 2,375,829 which was issued on 15, 1945. In that patent,however, I disclosed a system r cede rings having internally disposednotches for the purpose of setting these rings in difiere'ntpermutational arrangements, whereby an iiideii arr'ii, carrying atype-wheel, for example, etiilld be arrested in a selected position forprinting any desired character. I I The instant applic tion deals a ta lbearing assembly for code discs whicliniay be used for purposes similar"to these of the 664% rings; in the aforementioned patent. In this case,new ever, the ewe discs are externally fiothed ahd they are supported anhub member which is eefieefitne with the shaft of the type-wheei antithe index arm. n

In a preferred type of printing telegraph appafatus in connection withwhich my invention finds utility, the selecting meehamsm incliide's'fitiefiially notched de aises eeaxiauy' disposed With respect to atype-Wheel shaft and its indeii affii. overriding the notches of thecode discs, different selecting members or ste s are disposed,- eaeii ofthese selecting members being ivetaiiy iiidlinted between two fia'lhiplates and arranged t6 drol into any alignment of notches in the codediscs which may be developed by different permutational settings or thediscs. when efieef these selecting member's drops into such an alignmentof fitches, it ihte'ipos'es' a stop member into the path or the indexarm oensequenny upon retation of the indeii shaft and type-wheel, apoint is reached where the index arm is confronted by the selecting stopmember and is arrested for the purpose (if printing a character. u

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the followingobjects are an'iong these principally sought in carrying out myinvention;

in the description to follow. This descriptio 1. To provide a practicalterm or ball bearing assembly which facilitates independent enema: tionof a plurality oroue discs. I V

2. To obtain equalized frietional adjustment with respect to' the codedisc members in a ha bearing assembly, thereby to compensate for I andfor slight variation in' the thickness of the respective code discs.

3. To obtain freedom er maiyieuai iotat-ive movement or a setofjuxtaposed disc mem ers by the use of ball bearings are 'cagedalternateones of said disc m mbers, intervening dise members acting asflat bearing surfaces;

The above and other objects of niy invention; as wen as its advantages,will be made app'a aceeinpanied by a drawing} in which'z I W Fig. 1shows a front View of a of the selecting meehanism to which inventiiiiis"- related and U H Fig. 2 shows a aros -section of the ease andassembly taken along the line 2+2. in

The selecting mechanism with which my as sembIy of code disesiseperative y ombi v 7 one which constitutes subjectmatter for anotherinvention. The details of the selecting inee a= nisrn stand that my" eoddiscs I to S massive are arranged to be 'moved throngh aslight angle ii153* means of rotatable fingers 8'; each of weenie set into a notch 9 ina particular disc. The setting operation results from the release ofdifferent bell crank members I 0, which are spring-*aetiiated and whichcause the code discs to rotate cloekwise through said angle a: In oneembodiment or the invention this angle was 5- p The discs I to 6ineiusive are held in either of their two positions of setting by meansof detentsprings 40 which engage with one or the other of two notches atposition H; In practice; di fi er'e'ht code combinations are set up inresponse to the reception of telegraph code signals working throughselecting magnets (net s It is this selecting process resume he permutatio'rial actuation of the bell eranhmenibers It: After a selectingoperation has been errormed;

it is necessary to restore the' code cases to their normal positions;This is accomplished by means of a rotatable eam I2 which rotatesthrough a single cycle after the printing of each character; The cam l2rotates in such a manner as to act/uate a lever I3, atone end oi whichis mounted acam follower roller I This roller is pressed against theperiphery of the cam by means of a spring 45. A vane I is fixed onto thehub of lever I3 and extends through a narrow notch IS in disc 1 andthrough wider notches 46 in the code discs. A slight rocking motion ofthe lever I3 when the roller I4 drops into a depression in the cam I2causes the code discs to be restored to their initial positions in acounter-clockwise direction. Disc 1 has a reciprocating motion, subjectto that of the vane I5, and performs a function presently to beexplained.

The selecting notches 9 in each code disc are differently spaced apartaround the periphery of these discs, in order that upon setting selectedones of the discs in diiferent combinations an alignment of such notcheswill be created in correspondingly different positions. The selectionthus made causes the type-wheel to be arrested at the desired characterprinting position. Each of p the selecting vanes I'I extends across theentire assembly of code discs. Each vane II is integral with a shaft IB,and each shaft is pivotally held in place by bearing holes in the frameplates 32 and 36. In practice three or'four of the discs are moved intoa selecting position while the remaining discs are held in their normalpositions. Each combination of moved and unmoved code discs produces analignment of notches corresponding to the code elements of a signal, andthe notch alignment is what determines the position of arrest of thetype-wheel. One of the vanes II drops into such an alignment and rotatesa stop finger I9 into the path of the index arm extension 20. The indexarm 21 is mounted on a hubmember 22 so as to rotate with the type-wheelshaft 23, a

The purpose of the restoring disc I is to disengage the selected vane I!from the alignment of notches into which it becomes seated upon mak" inga. selection. The vane I! is withdrawn from such notches bycounter-clockwise rotation of the restoring disc I, into one of thenotches 4! of which a toepiece 35 was previously seated.

When the disc oscillates from and to its normal position, driven by thefinger I5 in response to the cyclic action of cam I2, then the vane IIwhich was engaged in an alignment of notches islifted out therefrom,since the toepiece 35 is driven out of notch 41 along the inclined edgethereof. With this operation, the entire assembly of code discs andrestoring disc, as well as the operated selector vane I! are broughtback to their normal positions, ready for a subsequent characterselecting operation to be performed.

. Rotation of the type-wheel shaft 23 is caused by a motor-drive throughgearing and a friction clutch 25. One of the gear members G is shown inFig. 2, this member being pressed against the face-plate portion of anindex arm 2| by means of a spring 24. Between the side-Wall of the gearmember G and the disc portion of the index arm 2 I, I interpose a disc25 made of compressible material which constitutes a suitable buffer forfriction clutch requirements. 7 7

Upon reference to Fig. 2, it will be observed that code discs I, 3 and,5, as well as a restoring disc I are formed witha ball race on bothsides thereof. The intervening code discs 2, 4 and 6 have substantiallyflat'sides which act as thrust bearing surfaces for the balls 26. Eachrace is substantially filled with balls. In each of the discs havingball races, it will be noted that one race is of smaller diameter thanthe other in order that the overall thickness of the disc may beminimized and that sufiicient material be had 4 to avoid weakening thestructure at the bottom of each ball race.

The balls 26 on the outer side of the disc I bear against a Washer 21which is loosely mounted on the hub member 28. Against the Washer 21 ispressed a resilient disc 29, the rim of which is formed with slits so astoobtain a plurality of independent bearing surfaces for equallydistributing the pressure around the circumference of the disc 21. Thecompression washer 29 is held in place by means of a retaining ring 30,this ring being assembled with the hub 28 by opening it up and thenallowing it to drop into and be held I by a channel around the hub.

The hub member 28 is fixedly supported by means of rivets 3| extendingthrough a flange of the hub member and through the mounting plate 32.

Within the hub member 28 is mounted a ball bearing assembly 33 whichincludes both inner and outer bearing members and balls all arranged toprovide suitable journal bearings for the index shaft 23. This ballbearing assembly is held in place by means of a cap member 34 which fitstightly on the end of the hub 28.

' It will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art thatmodifications of my invention may be made without departing from itsspirit and scope. Such'modifications will, doubtless, be suggested inview of the foregoing description and for the purpose of adapting theinvention to various forms of selecting mechanism with which it is to becombined.

I claim:

1. A ball-bearing assembly for holding a plurality of discs in parallelplanes free to assume independent positions of orientation, saidassembly comprising said discs, alternate ones of which are channeledwith circular ball races on opposite sides thereof and the interveningdiscs are fiat on both sides thereof, a set of balls substantiallyfilling each race, and resilient means for exerting pressure between theoutermost discs of the assembly and intervening discs.

2. A ball bearing assembly according to claim 1 wherein the ball racesof the channeled discs are of diiferent diameters on opposite sides ofthe same disc. 3. In a selecting mechanism, an assembly of code discscoaxially mounted for independent setting in either of two positions oforientation, a reset disc coaxially assembled with said code discs,balls substantially filling circular ball races which are formed incertain of said code discs and in said reset disc, intervening ones ofsaid discs being substantiaIly fiat, a hub member on which said discsare axially mounted, said hub member having a flange position whichfunctions as a thrust bearing for the balls in one of the races, andresilient means mounted on the other end of said hub for exertingpressure between said discs.

4. A ball-bearing assembly comprising a plurality of flat discs disposedin parallel planes and freely rotatable through a relatively small angleabout a common axis, each under independent control of an associateddriving means, alternate ones of said discs being channeled withcircular ball races on opposite sides thereof, and the remaining discsbeing fiat on both sides and of lesser overall thickness than saidchanneled discs, a set of balls substantially filling each race, a hubhaving a flange portion which offers a bearing surface to the balls inone of the two outermost races,

a'washer member offering a bearing surface to REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Myers Oct. 6, 1903 Swan Sept. 1,1931 Hewitt Aug. 10, 1943 Fitch et a1 Feb. 1, 1944 Reinhold May 15, 1945Spencer et a1 Aug. 20, 1946

